The first scientific session of the American Pediatric Society was held at the Arlington Hotel in Washington in 1888. The object of the organization, as stated in the constitution, was "the advancement of the knowledge of physiology, pathology and therapeutics of infancy and childhood," and this has not been changed in the forty-one years that the society has existed.

Abraham Jacobi of revered memory was the first president, and in his address he outlined a broader vision of the field of pediatrics than was then held. He pointed out the need for medical inspection and health supervision of the schools long before they became an accomplished fact, and at that time urged the participation of members of this society in "activities which would promote the health, welfare and happiness of the people." In his presidential address in 1914, Hamill used as his text a quotation from what he happily termed